After a September that produced the year’s first decline in average daily rate (ADR), Caribbean hoteliers pushed room-rate comparisons back into positive territory during October 2019.
In comparison with last October, ADR rose 0.4 percent even as occupancy fell 5.2 percent. Regardless, revenue per available room (RevPAR) was down 4.9 percent. While supply growth of 3.2 percent played a role in that performance equation, we found a 2.2 percent decrease in demand to be especially noteworthy. That dip in rooms sold was still likely reflective of the perception impact caused by Hurricane Dorian.
The last few months aside, absolute values show that the Caribbean is still on track for a record-breaking year for ADR and RevPAR. Through the first 10 months of the year overall, the region has reported average daily rates at US$217.00 and RevPAR of US$137.83.
On the islands where STR maintains a sufficient reporting sample, the U.S. Virgin Islands experienced the highest rise in October occupancy (+25.9%), but the steepest decrease in averatge daily rates (-20.2% to US$154.36). St. Lucia posted the largest increase in ADR (+16.0%), which pushed the highest jump in RevPAR (+27.4%).
The ABC Islands of the Dutch Caribbean (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao) have performed exceptionally well, with ADR at US$222 and occupancy at 65.5 percent for October 2019.
Puerto Rico saw a 0.7% decline in occupancy but an increase in both ADR (+1.8%) and RevPAR (+1.1%).
When looking at the pipeline, there are currently 60 hotels accounting for 14,506 rooms in construction in the Caribbean. The Dominican Republic leads in construction activity with 5,738 rooms being built.
Rico Louw is the Client Account Manager at STR. He can be reached at rlouw@str.com.
— CJ